azoicennead
Overly-Affectionate Zombie Squad
- Pronouns
- He/They
... Either you didn't get it, or you quoted someone using the same words to say something entirely different from what you were reacting to.
General Exalted Thread
Jon Chung
=][=
Hmm.
"You cannot fix perfects without fixing lethality" is a response to what used to feel like a couple newbies every week going "Okay, the paranoia combo is boring, so let's just wave our hands and make perfect defenses unusable in some fashion (varying in approach). That'll fix the problem, right? So easy, what are you people bitching about?". The phrase became a useful shorthand way to point out that nerfing the p-combo while doing nothing whatsoever to handle what made it optimal (and necessary) would simply flip the problem from boring attrition combat to rocket tag and a stack of new, suspiciously identical character sheets with slightly altered names, which is not an improvement.
Thing is, how do we fix the rocket tag lethality in E2 so we can safely kill 3 mote perfect defenses? Causes of lethality: massive damage for no or minimal cost, punishing wound penalties, "fuck you, you lose" status effects that take effect upon hitting or doing damage, super efficient multiattack effects, survivability costing, etc, etc. Which requires changing:
a) elements of the basic combat system, such as combo restrictions, ticks/speed, clinches, multi-attacks and wound/poison penalties.
b) all the weapons and armour, because we've changed the basic combat system and need to rebalance damage/soak.
c) all the charms that interact with the bits of the combat system that we've changed.
c) all the charms that do the "fuck you, you lose" thing that got written because we have 3m perfect defenses.
Which is certainly theoretically doable, yeah? However, since the majority of published mechanical content for Exalted 2 is combat-related artifacts and combat-related charms, this does basically look like a rewritten game once you're done, simply as a side-effect of the exception-based design and the focus on combat stuff. You change the core, you need to change all the exceptions to the core, and everything that touches those, and so on and so forth. A large pain in the ass.
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Dynamesmouse
Bzzzzzz
How much breaks if you just
1) freely combo carms, make all actions speed 5, make clinches just reduce dvs by 2 and make you unable to attack the guy clinching you, limit mundane flurries to 2/magical flurries to 3 actions, and just have wound and poison penalties max at 2.
2) Go with the 3e solution of basically making a set of light/medium/heavy set of weapons and armor
Aaron Peori
Rest in Peace
Fixing the basic combat engine of Exalted isn't that hard.
The problem is fixing the hundreds of Charms, artifacts, sorcery spells, Martial Arts styles and so on that are tied to the previous subsystem.
The best you can get is an ad hoc system where you the group houserule the specific Charms that appear in your game on a case by case basis. This can work, but is obviously not a solution for anyone else.
I basically have a functional rewrite of Exalted 2e that works perfectly fine for my group(s) when I need to run the game. I have always balked at writing this system down because I know, from personal experience, how hard it is to write a single complete and balanced Charm set for a single PC origin and the monumental task of doing that for all PC origins is so staggering I always lose all motivation about five pages in.
If someone was willing to pay me Exalted 3e kickstarter levels of money I could probably work out a functional rewrite of 2e because never let it be said I will not sell myself out for cash but barring that expecting anyone in the fan community to 'solve' Exalted for anyone but their own group based on gentleman's agreements and ad hoc houserules is a pipe dream.
The problem is fixing the hundreds of Charms, artifacts, sorcery spells, Martial Arts styles and so on that are tied to the previous subsystem.
The best you can get is an ad hoc system where you the group houserule the specific Charms that appear in your game on a case by case basis. This can work, but is obviously not a solution for anyone else.
I basically have a functional rewrite of Exalted 2e that works perfectly fine for my group(s) when I need to run the game. I have always balked at writing this system down because I know, from personal experience, how hard it is to write a single complete and balanced Charm set for a single PC origin and the monumental task of doing that for all PC origins is so staggering I always lose all motivation about five pages in.
If someone was willing to pay me Exalted 3e kickstarter levels of money I could probably work out a functional rewrite of 2e because never let it be said I will not sell myself out for cash but barring that expecting anyone in the fan community to 'solve' Exalted for anyone but their own group based on gentleman's agreements and ad hoc houserules is a pipe dream.
azoicennead
Overly-Affectionate Zombie Squad
- Pronouns
- He/They
D'SOMS
The Beautyful and Mystic Butterfly
- Location
- Denmark
So i made this thing, and it was my first thing, but i wanted to show it to someone and check if it was just dumb, or if it acctually is good... (I expect the lesser, its proberbly dumb)
Ever-Shifting Curtana:
(Moonsilver Daiklave, Artifact ••••)
The Ever-Shifting Curtana was forged in a very potent western demesne by a Lunar of the No Moon caste who saw the world as just another part of the eternal chaos, but held together by an eternal story of five stars, a sun and a moon fighting against five dragons, a thousand makers and an eternal void.
She sought to bring an end to the fighting and therefore needed a blade, but not any blade would be good enough to bring the world in order. She knew that the chaos of the world would be eternal and therefore she sought to bring order through chaos. Using the material of the moon and smithing it into the shape of a sword, heated by the rays of the sun and cooled by the blood of the storytellers.
The blade has seen horrors beyond creations borders that no living or even dead being should ever have seen. Its was once a part of the Balorian Crusade, killing and destroying an Unshaped whose name has since become but a silent whisper in the eternal chaos. But the Lunar who once carried the blade would one day die an honorable death at the hands of a the now dead Ramethus, The Garden of War.
The blade was decorated with green jade symbols of flowers in an endless river, flowing past the five Lunars signs. No Moon, Waxing Moon, Half Moon, Waning Moon and Full Moon. The No Moon sign is also has a hearthstone socket.
The blade now rests in a Lunar tomb far too the west, where many adventures has since then traveled in the hopes of unraveling treasures, but all who enter never goes back out since the whole tomb itself was made so that if an adventurer ever should get to the center and claim the blade it would take the newfound owner and the blade with him to the bottom of the ocean where it will lay until the next moon phase.
Evocations of The Ever-Shifting Curtana
Any Lunar wielding the blade will be blessed by its decorations slowly lighting up in the midst of battle and grant gifts of power:
Ever-Shifting Curtana:
(Moonsilver Daiklave, Artifact ••••)
The Ever-Shifting Curtana was forged in a very potent western demesne by a Lunar of the No Moon caste who saw the world as just another part of the eternal chaos, but held together by an eternal story of five stars, a sun and a moon fighting against five dragons, a thousand makers and an eternal void.
She sought to bring an end to the fighting and therefore needed a blade, but not any blade would be good enough to bring the world in order. She knew that the chaos of the world would be eternal and therefore she sought to bring order through chaos. Using the material of the moon and smithing it into the shape of a sword, heated by the rays of the sun and cooled by the blood of the storytellers.
The blade has seen horrors beyond creations borders that no living or even dead being should ever have seen. Its was once a part of the Balorian Crusade, killing and destroying an Unshaped whose name has since become but a silent whisper in the eternal chaos. But the Lunar who once carried the blade would one day die an honorable death at the hands of a the now dead Ramethus, The Garden of War.
The blade was decorated with green jade symbols of flowers in an endless river, flowing past the five Lunars signs. No Moon, Waxing Moon, Half Moon, Waning Moon and Full Moon. The No Moon sign is also has a hearthstone socket.
The blade now rests in a Lunar tomb far too the west, where many adventures has since then traveled in the hopes of unraveling treasures, but all who enter never goes back out since the whole tomb itself was made so that if an adventurer ever should get to the center and claim the blade it would take the newfound owner and the blade with him to the bottom of the ocean where it will lay until the next moon phase.
Evocations of The Ever-Shifting Curtana
Any Lunar wielding the blade will be blessed by its decorations slowly lighting up in the midst of battle and grant gifts of power:
- No Moon (0-3 Initiative): The wielder of the blade gets +1 on all non-charm Stealth rolls.
- No Moon (If hearthstone socket is filled): The wielder of the blade of the blade gets +3 on all non-charm stealth rolls.
- Waxing Moon (4-6 Initiative): The wielder of the blade gets +1 on all non-charm Presence rolls.
- Half Moon (7-9 Initiative): The wielder of the blade gets +1 to all non-charm awareness rolls.
- Waning Moon (10-12 Initiative): The wielder of the blade gets +1 to all dexterity rolls.
- Full Moon (13+ Initiative): The wielder of the blade pays -1 motes for all evocations of the Ever-Shifting Curtana.
Cost: 3m; Mins: Essence 2
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Uniform, Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
A serpent raises it's head seconds before the fatal strike, a river bends and flows to overcome all opposition. The wielder makes a single Withering or Decisive attack against an enemy within Medium Range. For the duration of the attack, the weapon possesses the Flexible, Reaching and Mounted tags.
Type: Supplemental
Keywords: Uniform, Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: None
A serpent raises it's head seconds before the fatal strike, a river bends and flows to overcome all opposition. The wielder makes a single Withering or Decisive attack against an enemy within Medium Range. For the duration of the attack, the weapon possesses the Flexible, Reaching and Mounted tags.
Cost: (+3m); Mins: Essence 2
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Uniform, Perilous
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Flowing River Strike
A lotus unfolds its petals to become a beautiful, velvet throne, an arrow leaps from the throne to pierce enemies like a scythe in a field of briars. Whenever the wielder uses Flowing River Strike, she may pay a surcharge of +3 motes to extend the attack to Long Range, if they are struck while in Short or Close Range of her, they will be pushed to Medium Range, while an enemy in Medium Range will be pushed to Long Range. Furthermore she permanently adds the Piercing Tag to Ever-Shifting Curtana. The attack also gains the Powerful tag.
Type: Permanent
Keywords: Uniform, Perilous
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Flowing River Strike
A lotus unfolds its petals to become a beautiful, velvet throne, an arrow leaps from the throne to pierce enemies like a scythe in a field of briars. Whenever the wielder uses Flowing River Strike, she may pay a surcharge of +3 motes to extend the attack to Long Range, if they are struck while in Short or Close Range of her, they will be pushed to Medium Range, while an enemy in Medium Range will be pushed to Long Range. Furthermore she permanently adds the Piercing Tag to Ever-Shifting Curtana. The attack also gains the Powerful tag.
Cost: 3m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-Only, Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Lotus Arrow Cut
The orchid elegantly unfurls to reveal a blooming beauty, all of Creation dances in celebration of this event. This Charm splits the wielders Initiative to make a series of (the highest of Wits or Dexterity) Decisive attacks. These attacks may be directed at a single target or multiple targets as as the player dictates. The player divides the wielders Initiative between the attacks when she activates the Charm, for the purpose of calculating damage. Every attack must have at least one point of Initiative allocated to it, and unlike a normal Decisive attack resolution, the wielder does not return to base Initiative value until the final attack is resolved, and only loses Initiative for missed attacks if all of her attacks fail to connect. In the case of such a miss, she loses 1 Initiative for every missed attack.
Special activation rules: Attack-enhancing Charms such as Flowing River Strike need only be paid for once to affect every attack in this sequence, but the Melee Excellency must be paid per attack.
Type: Simple
Keywords: Decisive-Only, Perilous
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Lotus Arrow Cut
The orchid elegantly unfurls to reveal a blooming beauty, all of Creation dances in celebration of this event. This Charm splits the wielders Initiative to make a series of (the highest of Wits or Dexterity) Decisive attacks. These attacks may be directed at a single target or multiple targets as as the player dictates. The player divides the wielders Initiative between the attacks when she activates the Charm, for the purpose of calculating damage. Every attack must have at least one point of Initiative allocated to it, and unlike a normal Decisive attack resolution, the wielder does not return to base Initiative value until the final attack is resolved, and only loses Initiative for missed attacks if all of her attacks fail to connect. In the case of such a miss, she loses 1 Initiative for every missed attack.
Special activation rules: Attack-enhancing Charms such as Flowing River Strike need only be paid for once to affect every attack in this sequence, but the Melee Excellency must be paid per attack.
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grommile
nasty-minded old cynic
- Location
- NERV-Mercia
- Pronouns
- Traditional/Animate
You do not fix the lethality problem by validating Creation-Slaying Oblivion Kick.
Clinches are still really powerful, as -2 to dv's is essentially a -2 external penalty(or about 4 dice). That's a big disadvantage to overcome. Also, it would make significantly more sense if you can only hit the guy clinching you, rather than unable to hit him.
Reminds me of a vague idea I had for shaping, namely making it dependent on roll margins using Revlids mutations as framework. Example scenario, an annoyed Raksha tries to turn me into a bird. Three possibilities:
- I make my resistance roll, and am safe (other than my continued proximity to a now-even-more annoyed Raksha)
- I fail my resistance catastrophically. Tweet tweet.
- I fail my resistance by a single success; The only thing that really happens is, I now have feathers instead of hair. Further applications of shaping from the Raksha that I just so fail against again every time will gradually give me wings, a full coat of feathers, a beak and a bird's voice, transform my feet, and shrink me.
For the actual guts of the system you propably want someone else than me, and you'd need to rewrite and recost all shaping-related charms, but it sounds like a reasonably elegant mod to me.
- I make my resistance roll, and am safe (other than my continued proximity to a now-even-more annoyed Raksha)
- I fail my resistance catastrophically. Tweet tweet.
- I fail my resistance by a single success; The only thing that really happens is, I now have feathers instead of hair. Further applications of shaping from the Raksha that I just so fail against again every time will gradually give me wings, a full coat of feathers, a beak and a bird's voice, transform my feet, and shrink me.
For the actual guts of the system you propably want someone else than me, and you'd need to rewrite and recost all shaping-related charms, but it sounds like a reasonably elegant mod to me.
vicky_molokh
Posthuman spidery thingy.
- Location
- Kyïv, Ukraine
In the context of discussions of fixing the combat engine, I think much of the problem lies in lacking a (system-agnostic) vision of What Combat Should Be Like. As in, how it should typically go when facing of such-and-such versus such-and-such opponent. Some fix-requests, when combined, seem to imply either a lack of a coherent vision, or a vision that is highly non-obvious (and I do hope it's the latter; I don't know everything so I can't tell for sure). The most glaring contradiction I see is the duo of 'Fix Lethality' and 'Fix Attrition'. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding some nuances of them, but here's the issue with wanting both:
So what should Exalted combat be like in your vision(s)? Is it meant to be full of flynning-like exchanges and four-colour beat-em-ups which hardly even bruise the characters, and nobody risks dying until the fifth turn of combat at the least? Or is it meant to be chaotic, brutal and unpredictable, forcing characters to treat it with utmost seriousness, respect and carefulness? Should ambushes and gang-ups of many-against few be mere fashion statements, or should they result in a genuine FUBARing experience for the target, such that anyone dressed for the kill will invest heavily in recon and stealth as a matter of course? When a Raksha, a Sorcerer or whatever tries to turn a target to stone (or into meat), should it be an OH SH!! moment, like in various accounts of combats against Gorgon Medusa, or is it supposed to be a useful useless spell that fails to work on anyone worthy of being called a hero, always giving second chances (or just being not so different from normal HP-reducing damage)?
- Reducing lethality, as in, making it extremely unlikely or outright impossible to kill a target in one go (even with a weapon/powers that are built to kill), means that there is/will be some sort of attritive 'shield' that needs to be defeated before a kill can be performed. Right now (as of 2½e) the shield is the mote pool combined with perfect defences.
- Removing attrition would involve the removal of such shields, and thus making quick kills more doable.
So what should Exalted combat be like in your vision(s)? Is it meant to be full of flynning-like exchanges and four-colour beat-em-ups which hardly even bruise the characters, and nobody risks dying until the fifth turn of combat at the least? Or is it meant to be chaotic, brutal and unpredictable, forcing characters to treat it with utmost seriousness, respect and carefulness? Should ambushes and gang-ups of many-against few be mere fashion statements, or should they result in a genuine FUBARing experience for the target, such that anyone dressed for the kill will invest heavily in recon and stealth as a matter of course? When a Raksha, a Sorcerer or whatever tries to turn a target to stone (or into meat), should it be an OH SH!! moment, like in various accounts of combats against Gorgon Medusa, or is it supposed to be a useful useless spell that fails to work on anyone worthy of being called a hero, always giving second chances (or just being not so different from normal HP-reducing damage)?
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- Location
- Virginia
Combat should be exactly one of two things:
- A fun game, and pay only the loosest attention to your complaints about "a crossbow bolt to the back of the head" stuff. If I am going to be spending any significant amount of time navigating this system then it should be a game first and evocative-of-reality second (or third or fourth or fifth or never).
- Resolved in 1-3 opposed rolls and then we all move on.
vicky_molokh
Posthuman spidery thingy.
- Location
- Kyïv, Ukraine
I definitely like #2. In fact, I would prefer the default attack to be resolved in no more than three unopposed rolls (or about half as many opposed ones):
One roll to see if/how well it hits, maybe one roll for how the opponent reactively tries to defend (this can be a non-roll), and one roll for either damage (with an unrolledly-subtracted soak of some sort, like in Ex2e) or a non-damaging negative effect (e.g. a Stamina+Resistance roll against a fixed-by-stats-or-equipment difficulty to resist a stunning spell/artifact/TASER/etc.).
As for #1, the thing is, it is very unfun to be the sniper if you never get to do the One Shot, One Kill without resorting to GM Fiat, not even when the circumstances are extremely conducive to such a shot. Conversely, characters who are John Woos should be able to John Woo without needing to resort to GM Fiat, characters who are inhumanly skin-armoured should be able to shrug off petty knife slashes, for I-polymorph-you-into-duck casters to have some sort of reasonable motivation to actually try duck-punching their targets in combat (for which the current either-autokill-or-IPP paradigm is bad), and so on. The fun of a game depends heavily on the ability to provide the kind of gameplay rewards that are appropriate to various types/concepts/etc. of characters.
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- Location
- Virginia
No, I wasn't talking about individual attacks. I mean the entire combat.
Some character archetypes are hard to represent in a game if you want it to be actually enjoyable-as-a-game. Too bad, so sad.
- Location
- NYC
I had a weird idea a while back for a combat engine that would kind of do this.
The notion was to structure a combat like a five act play, with each player getting to take one action in each act.
Act one is the prelude, people get to decide if they want to try to be in stealth, where they are in space, etc. Narrative powers get triggered here.
Act two is the start of the conflict. People jockey for position, trying to set up bonuses for the next phase and accomplish whatever goals they have.
Act three is the climax. Damage is dealt, actions resolve, etc.
Act four is the falling action. Things that mitigate bad things or pour on effects trigger here.
Act five is the conclusion. Stuff becomes written on your character sheet, any final powers activate.
Charms and specific actions would generally be bound to a specific act, and have requirements to trigger them. An overwhelming strike in act 3 requires that you have an advantage against your opponent in act 2. Heart-exploding fist allows you to, in act 4, cause someone you successfully struck in act 3 to die.
If you have a few interesting base action types in each act, possibly rock-paper-scissors in their structure, it could be compelling, dynamic, and above all short.
vicky_molokh
Posthuman spidery thingy.
- Location
- Kyïv, Ukraine
Other games manage to support them to various extents and stay fun, so it's not like this is an impossible task.
Ah. Six rolls per combat total (3 per participant). Well, that is a big change to the combat paradigm. It means a reduction of the detail level of combat from the one we have, way below that of games like Exalted or WoD, even below that of CoD1.0 and FATE Core (I have no idea about CoD2.0/GMC, so can't comment on that one). Not necessarily a bad concept inherently, but very different from the sort of game Exalted seems to present itself as.
- Location
- The sixth circle of Hell (second on weekends)
- Pronouns
- She/Her
"I want three rolls for the whole combat."
"So three rolls per attack?"
"No, three rolls for the whole combat."
"Ah, so three rolls per person!"
"... I think you might be missing my point here."
vicky_molokh
Posthuman spidery thingy.
- Location
- Kyïv, Ukraine
Three opposed rolls is six total rolls assuming a combat with no more and no less than two participants.
If the proposition should be read as literally requiring three opposed rolls regardless of the number of participants, then there's no point in having more than one opposed roll in the first place. Just assign every character an integer Combat Strength, and roll a number of dice equal to CS for each side, then narrate the outcome based on who rolled more. Really, at this point the game mechanics are no longer about Wuxia with hundreds of secret techniques and weird stances.
Eukie
Powered by furious Canadian redheads
Or you could use the additional two dice rolls to give randomised consequences to winning and losing.
Giygas
Cutest Sawk i could find. Lucario is a nice extra.
You should totaly allowed to do the one shot one kill headshot! Like in real life!
... Unfortunately, it is hellishsly difficult in real life, with dozens of tools needed and things such as this done to maximixe the chances:
Yep, shooting between heartbeats is something actually advised in real life for snipers. Take a difficulty of shotting one head, add a fuckton of external penalities, and end up with a difficulty in the tents as minimum, with optimal conditions.
Unoptimal conditions? Good luck: either you are an exalted specialized in such things with the additional help of the right tools, or a Bronze Age mortal isn't ever going to get someone killed like that.
And, even if you are an Exalted specialized in such things, i hope you are specialized in running away quickly/hiding just as quick, because otherwise all of your specialization in oneshooting targets isn't going to help you with peoples in Meele range/shooting at you to not one hit kill you.
vicky_molokh
Posthuman spidery thingy.
- Location
- Kyïv, Ukraine
I certainly don't expect it to be easy. In fact it should be quite difficult. This is why I talk about taking the most high-skilled marksman using the most accurate and strong crossbow and setting up a very advantageous situation in the example used for the 3e question back then. But apparently in 3e, having the best crossbow makes no difference for Decisive Attacks, and the whole mechanic is set up in such a way that attacking a totally unaware enemy is less effective than attacking a totally aware enemy in the middle of combat if you made a few successful but ineffective attacks before that (i.e. accumulated lots of combat Initiative). It shouldn't be easier to score such a deadly hit in the heat of combat than it is to score one against an unresisting target.
- Location
- NYC
My memory is a big vague on this, but can't one could fluff a series of aim actions before entering the battle as a bunch of withering attacks, before launching a devastating decisive one? You'd be operating on a bit of anime "I sense lethal intent but can't see where it's coming from?"
Also, there's an Artifact Bow seemingly designed for sniping that, once you max it's evocations, let's you start a fight with Initiative 15 if you're willing to burn some motes, and then pretty much immediately launch a super long range uber shot. Like, if you really want to play a sniper it seems doable in the system, no?
Aaron Peori
Rest in Peace
The problem with 'one shot, one kill' in Exalted is that if the PCs can do it, so can the NPCs.
No one wants to have the ST interrupt them in the middle of the session and tell them an arrow has blow their brains out, please roll up a new character.
If you're okay with the ST arbitrarily murdering your characters occasionally, you can have it as a valid mechanic in the game.
No one wants to have the ST interrupt them in the middle of the session and tell them an arrow has blow their brains out, please roll up a new character.
If you're okay with the ST arbitrarily murdering your characters occasionally, you can have it as a valid mechanic in the game.
- Location
- NOVA
The biggest problem I have with one shots is PC/NPC asymmetry when many games try to make them run by the same rules.
For players, one shotting certain enemies is a lot of fun, but being one shotted never is. Killing a mid boss like this can also be incredibly satisfying. Killing the final boss of a long combat arc would make it feel like an anti-climax. This could be good in certain circumstances if the plot and theme of the game call for it, but I would be very careful about including the potential otherwise.
I think my ideal would be something like the following.
Lightly combat specced PCs can one shot mooks. Very combat specced PCs can one shot non-combat specced, named NPCs. A one shotting specialist PC can one shot lightly combat specced NPCs without a ton of setup.
PC one shots would require such gross stupidity on the part of the players that it was obvious from miles away and are the result of voluntary actions on their part. Things like a non-combat character deciding to neither take cover nor dodge after directly insulting a war god.
- Location
- Gladstone, OR
Building on @Aaron Peori 's point, is that a lot of viable, real-world strategies that we like to see in games, that we feel rewarded for implementing as players- have no counterplay.
Sniping is the oft cited example: On paper, there is no meaningful way to respond to a sniper when you get shot. You either get hit and die, get hit and survive, or they miss and you can't do jack shit because you're 1000+ yards away.
There's no system or mechanic for arbitrating 'Reach the sniper before they can fire a second shot', outside of Charms, and 2e/2.5e's failing is that it confused charms for base mechanics. This is why I believe Night Avenger's Lunge is a terrible charm, because it's just as necessary as a surprise negator, and it creates un-fun tactical situations. (it's the counterattack across Creation Charm).
Now- Charms totally can be counterplay, but 2e was really not the place to make it happen. I can't speak for how 3e handles charms-as-counterplay, but given the track record...
Sniping is the oft cited example: On paper, there is no meaningful way to respond to a sniper when you get shot. You either get hit and die, get hit and survive, or they miss and you can't do jack shit because you're 1000+ yards away.
There's no system or mechanic for arbitrating 'Reach the sniper before they can fire a second shot', outside of Charms, and 2e/2.5e's failing is that it confused charms for base mechanics. This is why I believe Night Avenger's Lunge is a terrible charm, because it's just as necessary as a surprise negator, and it creates un-fun tactical situations. (it's the counterattack across Creation Charm).
Now- Charms totally can be counterplay, but 2e was really not the place to make it happen. I can't speak for how 3e handles charms-as-counterplay, but given the track record...
Aaron Peori
Rest in Peace
Not only that, but at a certain point we have to admit they're not very fun.
Creating a good game is a balance between retaining verisimilitude and being fun to actually play.
In real life, for example, the counter to snipers is that its actually really hard for snipers to get that perfect sniping position and people know where they are so you have to be able to stealth insert into a certain area and remain undiscovered for hours, potentially days at a time waiting for the perfect shot. In gameplay this would mean one player running off and get involved in an intense stealth/spotter game for a very long time as he tries to get to a sniper position and patrols constantly try to locate him. This would be...
Well, we talked about the Hacker Problem already.
If you abstract it down to one or two rolls, suddenly all the difficulty goes away. It becomes an uninteresting tactical game and just a matter of throwing more dice at the problem then the other guy.
I don't think we can use Exalted's current mechanics with an emphasis on action-resolution to allow a sniper style to actually work in a way that's fun for everyone. If you moved the level of resolution out a level to conflict stage you could do that, however. In that case 'one shot, one kill' is just a flavour text description by one player of how they one the 'assassination conflict'.